You are here: Home > Orientation Hall > Annex >

Pacific island countries:

roles of environment ministries/departments

In the independent Pacific islands, environmental units are largely advisory and lack manpower, finances, and authority. To compensate for these deficiencies, several governments (e.g. Samoa, Vanuatu and Fiji) are experimenting with shifting environmental responsibility to the local level. Colonial Pacific island governments generally follow the policy of their associated federal authorities. The government in Guam, American Samoa, and other US dependencies, for example, have representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as well as local and federal resource authorities. New Caledonia and French Polynesia operate under French law and have adequate funds, manpower and authority.

weakness of the environment department/units

      While governments have made efforts towards improving their institutional capital for dealing with the environment, there is a long way to go for Pacific Island countries. The reasons include;

• The role of the environmental units has been limited to an advisory one. Further this advice is usually given on an ad hoc basis when requested by the concerned government entity.
  
  
• The limited jurisdiction granted to the environmental units. They do not have the appropriate legal powers vested in them to provide effective, coordinated decisions/advice on environmental problems, policies, and land use allocation. Other Ministries tend to regard the coordinating committee established by environmental units as just other ad hoc committee.
  
  
• The environmental agency is often placed under a Ministry, which has conflicting goals. The environmental entity is a junior department in the Ministry
  
  
• The conflicting role of government as developer and regulator. Ministers responsible for the environment tend not to sit on the macroeconomic committee responsible for economic decision making. For example the Economic Sub Committee in Fiji.
  
  
• In some cases there are administrative procedures laid out for integrating environmental considerations into decision making. However, Ministers and their Ministries can chose to bypass these procedures. For example the decision to recommence round log exports in Vanuatu was taken without recourse to the consultation procedure recommended.
  
  
• Inadequate financial and human resources devoted to the government's agency responsible for coordinating environmental activities. Further the funding that is made available tends to be provided by donors and international agencies.
  
  
• The lack of integration of local governments and NGO into the central governments environmental decision making process.